ATLAS FLUBBED

A Brief Critique of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged

by Ken V. Krawchuk

INTRODUCTION

In my humble opinion, Atlas Shrugged is the best book
ever written.

As has happened with so many other people, reading the
novel has changed my life. Since first picking it up in 1983
at the age of 30, I've read the book more times than I can
count. The ideas the Author portrayed helped to transform
me from a low-profile, lifelong liberal Democrat into an eight-time
Libertarian Party candidate, including two record-breaking
campaigns for Pennsylvania Governor and a
credible run for the Libertarian Party vice presidential
nomination. As the song says: What a long, strange trip it's
been.

It has long been my habit after each race to take a break,
relax, and recharge my philosophical batteries by re-reading
Atlas Shrugged; and when you read something enough
times, little things inadvertently and unavoidably start to
stand out and grab your attention, much like recognizing new
foibles in your spouse after remaining oblivious to them for
so many years.

This site is the end-product of my latest re-reading,
in the wake of an abortive run for U.S Senate. It's a
chronicle of what I believe to be some of the unnoticed
foibles lurking within Atlas Shrugged that were secreted
there by my metaphorical philosophical spouse.
I offer this critique in good spirit; not to drag down the
good name of the Author or denigrate her writings, but rather
to illustrate certain viewpoints that perhaps others may not
have considered. Also, on a personal front, it offered me the
pleasure of crawling around inside the bowels of the best
book ever written. That alone is reason enough; but I
digress.

Despite it's epic length, I've found that Atlas Shrugged is
virtually error free. Out of the 1,168 pages and over 600,000
words of the hardback edition, I could identify only twenty
questionable passages; that works out to one error every
fifty-eight pages, a record most could never hope to
challenge. While most of them are indisputably errors, a few
of my observations may be open to interpretation. I'll leave
the final judgment to the reader; I'm only the messenger.

I've grouped the errors into four broad categories,
ordered from what I consider to be the least important to the
most. The categories are:

Errors of Grammar (6 examples)

Errors of Calculation (3 examples)

Errors of Logic (7 examples)

Errors of Philosophy (4 examples)

Within each category, the examples are similarly ranked
from the least to most egregious. For each error, three items
are included:

The context of the error: This is the direct quote
from Atlas Shrugged about which I comment;

Discussion of the error: This is an explanation
of where I feel the error lies;

Alternative: Although it has often been
observed that it is dangerous to speak after
princes — or princesses — nevertheless I offer
some suggested text purported to circumvent
the error.

To assist the reader in locating the full source text, if
need be, for all quotes I've included the page number and
line number based upon the Random House hardback
edition, represented as "page-dot-line". For example, the
first line of the book is (3.1), meaning page 3, line 1, while
the last line of the book is (1168.40), meaning page 1168,
line 40. From this notation, it's possible to mathematically
derive the location of the quotes in other editions of the book
as well. For those interested in the details of the formula for
doing so, see Appendix A.

As an aside, I have been informed by my Objectivist
friends that the title and subtitles of this pamphlet may come
across as needlessly harsh. Rest assured that my intent
was to be clever, not defamatory, and how far I've missed
that mark is an indication of the quality and limits of my
cleverness. If anyone is offended by the titles, I suggest that
you get a life! and simply get over it, lest you continue to
surrender your peace of mind to every bozo who comes
blathering down the pike. Besides: To quote Vernon
Howard, "Inner liberty can be judged by how often a person
feels offended, for you can no more insult a mature man
than you can paint the air."